AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 491 



be such as will build up all parts of the animal economy; and 

 that can only be accomplished with a mixture. Which has a 

 double function to perform to sustain and likewise increase the 

 body. By an experiment, a few years since, I found that an 

 animal confined on a wooden floor, and fed cut grass, would not 

 grow as fast as an animal fed on an earthen floor, or in a pasture 

 lot. This led me to study the motion of the heads of my cattle 

 when feeding in pasture. And I observed that they did not cut 

 the grass, but rather tore it up, and frequently with it, the roots 

 containing earth, which, when taken into their stomachs, must 

 act as an antacid, facilitating digestion. I then gave the animal 

 on the wooden floor, grass torn up by the roots, Avith the dirt 

 adhering; and his growth immediately equalled those fed on 

 earthen floors, or pastured. If you will take the trouble to 

 examine the mouth of an ox, you will find there are no nip2")ers 

 in the upper jaw; but instead of them a pad covering the 

 convex extremity of the maxillary bone. This is the case with 

 all cud chewing animals. The consequence of this structure is, 

 that in browsing, the grass is partially cut through, and torn up 

 by the roots, because the earth is necessary in the process of 

 digestion. Consequently, for a number of years, I have been 

 accustomed to pull all my corn-stalks up by the roots, and feed 

 them to stock in winter. They particularly enjoy the roots, on 

 account of the dirt contained in them, as well as the large per- 

 centage of sacharine matter. And, notwithstanding all the abuse 

 heaped upon corn-stalks, and the woody fibre contained therein, 

 at a meeting of this club, stock infinitely prefer them to hay, 

 and will, if properly fed, consume stalk, cob, corn and root, con- 

 verting the whole into flesh, fat, milk and manure. The leading 

 nutritive matter in corn-sialks, is sugar; and they have a highly 

 attenuated form of lignin, a woody fibre, which is probably 

 nearly all digestible. Nutritious food is often combined with 

 indigestible matters, such as woody fibre, lignin, &c., which resist 

 the action of the digestive powers, and pass through the alimen- 

 tary canal with very little alteration. The husks of peas, beans, 

 oats, barley, &c., are composed of this substance, and unless these 

 grains are broken, by the masticating process of the animal, or 



